My youngest brother is dying, or at least thinks he's dying, to go to Columbia. He's on the wait list right now and whenver I ask him about whether he's heard anything he sounds like a spurned lover that's coming out of an emotionally abusive relationship. It's high drama and extremes of emotion.
I'm not quite sure why he is sooooo enamored with Columbia. I mean, I loved my time there, but he's only been there about 8 times (my family would drive up in the fall and help me move in and then again in the spring to help me move out). I guess kids (he made those trips between the ages of 6 and 10) really are impressionable. All those road trips from Pittsburgh to NYC really affected him and he believes that 116th and Broadway is the only place to spend his next 4 years.
If he does get in, his experience will be totally different from mine (and by extension a fair number of our readers). Morningside Heights has totally gentrified. I think our class ('98) was the last class to have what I like to think of as a true Columbia experience. I remember eating soup (with a dirty spoon) late at night at Grandma's, making late night runs to Love's when I should have been studying (Balls is still bitter that I did better on the GChem exam second semester than I did first semester when I didn't even go to lecture second semester -- this proves my point that Lenny Fine's book was totally useless), getting a heart shaped bagel from Columbia Bagels one Valentine's Day (it was nice to know that someone loved me enough to give me their heart!), and getting so drunk at the West End during the Hukelau that Kentak had to give me a piggy back ride home across dangerously icy sidewalks and streets.
I was up at campus a few weeks ago to say goodbye to the West End. Nothing like cheap beer in plastic cups to bring back the college experience, except that the West End's last days included 3 baby strollers parked inside on a Friday night. The West End is now a Havana Central (a chain Cuban restaurant). Some places have closed and I don't really miss them -- Cannon's is a prime example. But some places are so tied into my college experience that it saddens me to think that I'll never be able to relive that experience. Columbia Bagels is no more, replaced by a high rise building. ET#1 and I made a pilgrimage to Columbia Bagels a few weeks before it closed forever. Nussbaum and Wu is a poor substitute. I am sad to report that another local favorite is closing. Unlike the West End, La Rosita served GREAT food. Even though I didn't frequent it as much as I should have, I will miss it. 20-20 hindsight, I guess. If anyone wants to head up there one last time to say farewell, let me know...
2 comments:
Oooh! Can we go visit Carmen 8? We'd have to make sure Mr. Shoulders is there. And someone can smack him on the head with a Snapple bottle, just for old times sake.
i totally would go if i wasn't just in nyc last weekend. (btw where is that post?)
i have fond memories of being hungover and getting eggs beans and plaintains for brunch at la rosita.
bye college inn, bye grandma's, bye mamma joy's, bye love's, bye nacho mamma's (take out), bye columbia bagels, bye ufm, bye west end, bye bye the amusing vision of an ivy league school in the ghetto.
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